Nothing is Beyond Mathew Wright’s Imagination & Energy

Young Environmentalist of the Year, Matthew Wright, reflects on his plan for the future of electricity in Australia that led to him being awarded the prestigious prize, in this article which appeared on the ABC Environment portal. He’s the man behind the Beyond Zero Emission plan to transform Australia’s stationery energy to be totally renewable by 2020. He has steered launches of the plan in Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane. Next up is Adelaide on 3 December.  

ABC Environment (27 October 2010):

By Matthew Wright

CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY has been moving at a snail’s pace for the last few years. But for all the false starts, we can look to 2011 knowing that the seeds for progress have been planted.

In 2010, Beyond Zero Emissions, the volunteer-led group I helped found, published the Zero Carbon Australia – Stationary Energy plan, a detailed blueprint for transforming Australia’s stationary energy sector to 100 per cent renewable sources by 2020. It took around 12 months worth of pro bono work by engineers, scientists and postgraduate university students from all around Australia to complete the research that no Australian government or organisation has been prepared to investigate. The result is a truly innovative collaboration the likes of which has never been seen before in Australia.

At the annual Banksia awards recently, Beyond Zero Emissions and our partner, the University of Melbourne Energy Institute, were awarded the Mercedes Benz Environmental Research Award for our efforts.The Zero Carbon Australia – Stationary Energy plan is quite simply a game changer. The proposal presents a credible and pragmatic way for our government and private sector to transform the Australian economy from one reliant on climate-changing fossil fuels to one powered by Australia’s abundant renewable energy resources using commercially available technology.

Using detailed modelling, our researchers show how a 60/40 mix of large-scale solar thermal power plants with storage and wind farms can provide the bulk of Australia’s energy needs without wrecking our climate or our economy. The construction of a national energy grid will allow for geographically dispersed solar and wind power installations, with our existing hydroelectric capacity and small amount of biomass used for backup generation. We demonstrate that both cost and variability can be readily addressed, and expose as myth the frequent argument that we need coal, gas or nuclear power to provide ‘baseload’ electricity.

One could be excused for thinking that transforming our national energy system in a decade is an impossible task. This was the initial position of many on the plan’s team. Through conducting our research however, it became clear that implementing the proposed infrastructure in ten years is well within the capability of Australia’s existing industrial and economic capacity. We have the skills, the can-do spirit, and the Aussie ingenuity to get the job done. What we don’t have is leadership from our government and business community.

The overwhelming response to the Zero Carbon Australia plan tells us that the public is hungry for action on climate change and that they have an appetite for a visionary nation-building renewable energy agenda. Over one thousand people braved bad weather for launches in Melbourne and Sydney. And every week, our inboxes are filled with messages of support and requests to join the Beyond Zero Emissions team. After the success of the Stationary Energy plan and new volunteers on board, we will develop transition plans for buildings, transport, steel, cement and other industrial sectors.

Cross-party support on climate change policies has been elusive. But our plan has managed to gain support from across the political spectrum. In June, Liberal Senator Judith Troeth, Greens Senator Christine Milne and independent Senator Nick Xenophon jointly hosted the parliamentary launch of the plan. Since then former Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull has joined former NSW Labor Premier Bob Carr to praise the plan at an event at the Sydney Town Hall.

Not only do politicians support the Zero Carbon Australia initiative, but so do leading academics, energy experts, business people, and community leaders. The former Australian of the Year Professor Tim Flannery described the plan as “an ambitious, technically feasible plan that should be looked at seriously”.

As just one among many Australians that wants action on climate change, I hope the Gillard government and its newly established Climate Change Committee take Tim Flannery’s advice to take a serious look at the Zero Carbon Australia plan. Credible climate policies will account for our findings. To paraphrase the Prime Minister’s oft-used phrase during the 2010 election campaign, it’s the only way to move Australia forward on the critical challenges of climate change and energy security.

Matthew Wright is Executive Director of Beyond Zero Emissions and the 2010 Environment Minister’s Young Environmentalist of the Year.

BZE is coming to Adelaide!

Come along to hear about the ground-breaking plan for 100% renewable energy within a decade.

Friday, December 3
6:00pm for a 6.30pm start
Elder Hall, Adelaide University, North Tce, Adelaide